Device for improving combustion in gasoline engines for automotive vehicles



May 22, 1951 A. cooulLLl DEVICE FOR IMPROVING COMBUS ION IN GASOLINE ENGINES FOR AUTOMOTIVE vsnzcms Filed July 2, 1947 WE XSEEE V mohumanmwu INVENTQR IALEXANDRE CQQUILLE ATTVS.

Patented May 22, 1951 DEVICE FOR IMPROVING COMBUSTION IN GASOLINE ENGINES- FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Alexandre Coqu'ille, Syam, France, assignor to Societe Forges de Syam, Syam, France, a corporation of France Application July 2, 1947, Serial No. 758,584 In France J uly.24, 1946 4 Claims.

It is well known that in gasoline engines, the air-fuel mixture is roportioned in the carburettor by means of a jet the rate of flow through which is varied in response to the degree of opening of the air intake throttle. mixture is more rapid (to the point of becoming explosive) as the proportion of air is lowered; on the other hand, the higher said proportion of air in the mixture, the more gradually and completely the combustion is effected, .until the point where the air content in themixture being too high, the mixture may no longer be ignited.

In order that the engine may operate with an optimum efiiciency it is therefore necessary, in the first place, that the combustion of the air-fuel mixture be effected in as progressive and v complete a manner as possible, and said combustion may only be accomplished with a strictly correct volume of air. Moreover, the expansion of the combustion gases may subsequently be used to the maximum effect by a suitable adjustment of ignition spark advance.

However, it is in practice a material impos- The combustion of said ered as a plan view of the left hand portion of Fig. 1.

According to the embodiment selected and.

shown, the intake tube I placed between the carburettor and the engine has mounted thereon a valve comprising a body 2 and a bushing 3 rigid with a hollow plug 4 through which secondary air is adapted'to penetrate into the valve bushing. The body 2 is at its base provided with a slot 5 adapted to register with a port 6 formed in the pipe and the bushing is itself provided with sibility to obtain an accurate proportioning of Q the air-fuel mixture based on the ratio of throttle opening to jet section, inasmuch as the diameter of the jet outlet is in the order of only a fewcome this condition, such devices in particular,

comprising a secondary air-adjusting valve arranged downstream of the carburettor, as see for instance U. S. Patents 1,483,883 to Hillhouse and 1,558,174 to J eannies. But those devices are relatively complicated and have not for this reason been extensively applied to motor vehicles.

An object of the present invention is a device in which particularly simple means are provided to produce a mixture which at any time is adapted to the instantaneous rate of operation of the engine.

Further objects and a more complete disclosure of my invention will appear from the ensuing description and claims in reference with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal cross section of the general assembly of the device in one exemplary embodiment thereof Fig. 2 is a transverse section On line II-II of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a detailed view which may be consida port 1 adapted to be brought into register with the slot 5.

Rotation of the bushing 3 is effected by means of a control rod 8 and is controlled from the shaft!) of the carburettor throttle. For that purpose a lever I!) in which a slot or slide-way H is formed is secured to the rod 8 through a spring [2 adapted to clamp said lever between a pair of washers I3-l3 maintained by a stop member I l; a second lever 15 also formed with a slot or slide-way l6 therein, is secured on-the throttle shaft 9. Both said levers are interconnected through a link [1, the ends of which are respectively slidable and the pivots of which are adapted to be immobilised at a predetermined point in each of the slots or slide-ways II and [6. The position of said link with respect to both levers may thus be modified as required, and the drive of the control rod 8 from the lever IE! is' eifected by friction.

On the rod 8 there is secured a second slotted lever 4| which controls a spark advance timing device diagrammatically indicated at 42 through the medium of a further slotted lever 43, the connection between both levers being effected through .a finger 44 freely slidable in one of the slots of said levers and blockable at a desired set position in the other.

As a result. of the above arrangement, the setting of the valve bushing, that is the more or less great degree of opening of the valve, may be adjusted from the degree of opening of the throttle valve. Initial setting of the valve is effected at the end position thereof, corresponding to idling operation, ignition advance then being at a minimum, and said adjustment position being indicated by means of a mark l8 provided on the fixedvalve body and the zero graduation of a scale carried by the plug member 4 rotatable with the bushing (see Fig. 3).

The amount of secondary air admitted through the intake tube 1 is' a function of the angular amplitude of rotation of the valve bushing on one hand, and the width of the ports 6 and 1 on the other hand. Both said variables should be predetermined for each individual engine by tests.

It will be understood that, while allowing the control from the throttle to be maintained it is simply necessary to extend the control rod 8 as far as the dash-board of the vehicle to make it possible for the admission of secondary air to also be adjusted by the driver, for each particular operating rate of the engine, by means of a hand lever 40 and a graduated drum, similar to the plug member 4.

The control rod 8 being frictionally driven from the lever II] as stated above, it is possible to impart to the rod 8 an additional rotation for an unaltered setting of the lever II], which additional rotation may result from a hand control means or through an operative connection with any type of automatic adjustment means.

Moreover, complete and consequently progressive combustion of the air-fuel mixture will be accomplished in the best possible conditions if the above described device is combined with an adjustable ignition advance device which it could furthermore be made to actuate in a positive manner through an appropriate leverage. In that case, it is the accelerator pedal which will control jointly and simultaneously: the carburettor throttle valve, the admission of secondary air and the ignition spark advance.

Such a control is accomplished through the levers 4| and 43 in the specific embodiment shown. It will be seen that in this case the spark advance timing device is operatively linked with the setting of the control rod 8 of the secondary air-valve.

It is obvious that. other automatic connecting means for the above described device could also be used and the constructional details of the latter could be modified without exceeding the scope of the invention as defined in the ensuing claims.

What is claimed is;

1. A control device for the operation of a carburettor throttle valve shaft and a secondary air valve comprising an actuating shaft for actuating the secondary air valve, manual means for rocking said. shaft, a lever arm rotatably mounted on said actuating shaft, a lever fixed on the throttle valve shaft, a link adjustably connected between said levers, and friction coupling means connecting said actuating shaft to the lever mounted thereon whereby said actuating shaft may be rocked by movements of.

the throttle shaft and by its manual rocking means.

2. A control device for the operation of a carburettor throttle valve shaft and a secondary air valve comprising an actuating shaft for actuating the secondary air valve, manual means for rocking said shaft, a lever arm rotatably mounted on said actuating shaft, a lever fixed on the throttle valve shaft, each of said levers having a slot formed therein, a slide adjustably slidably mounted in each slot, a link pivotally attached to and connecting said slides, and friction coupling means connecting said actuating shaft tothe lever mounted thereon whereby said actuating shaft may be rocked by movements of the throttle shaft and by its manual rocking means.

3. A, control device for the operation of a carburettor throttle valve shaft and a secondary air valve comprising an actuating shaft for actuating the secondary air valve, manual means for rocking said shaft, a lever arm rotatably mounted on said actuating shaft, a lever fixed on the throttle valve shaft, a link adjustably connected between said levers, and friction coupling means connecting said actuating shaft to the lever,

mounted thereon whereby said actuating shaft may be rocked by movements of the throttle shaft and by its manual rocking means, said friction coupling means including a collar on said actuating shaft, and a spring having one end fixed against axial movement on the shaft and,

the other end clamping the lever against said collar.

4. A control device for the operation of a carburettor throttle valve shaft, a secondary air valve and a spark advance timing device comprising an actuating shaft for actuating the sec ondary air valve, manual means for operating said shaft, a lever arm rotatably mounted On said actuating shaft, a lever fixed on the throttle valve shaft, a link adjustably connected betweenv said levers, friction coupling means connecting,v said actuating shaft to the lever mounted thereon, whereby it is possible in addition to the movements imparted from said throttle to said secondary air valve to superimpose additional adjusting movements without altering the setting of said throttle, and means for operatively. conmeeting said timing device with said secondary air valve.

ALEXANDRE COQUILLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in'the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

